Small town’s reactions to visit are mixed

MACON — About 225 people stood for at least three hours yesterday on a muddy hill outside the Poet Biorefining plant hoping to catch a glimpse of the commander in chief.

The group was divided evenly between supporters and critics of the president. Some, such as a group of 16-year-old girls from nearby Macon High School, were prepared to give President Barack Obama a rock-star welcome.

“We’re thinking a creative sign might catch his eye,” said Alex Richardson, 16, who toted a neon-yellow sign that read “I skipped school for you, Obama.” The girls, dressed head-to-toe in red, white and blue, all said they had played hooky for the “once in a lifetime” opportunity.

From other corners, though, the welcome was less hearty.

Mark Stuart, 32, held a flag with a picture of a black AR-15 rifle with the inscription: “Come and Take It.” Stuart, a gun shop owner from Marceline, said he believes Obama wants to reinstate the federal assault weapons ban that ended in 2004. That, he said, hasn’t worked in places such as Chicago, where stolen, unregistered guns lead to sky-high murder rates.

“My answer is more guns, less crime,” Stuart said. “This” flag is “about the Second Amendment.”

Others like Jessica Wooten, 22, decried the president for choosing to speak to a pre-selected audience inside the biorefinery instead of regular folks in town.

“He’ll see what he wants to see,” said Wooten, whose husband is serving in Afghanistan. “If this is supposed to be the Main Street tour, he should be out here walking, talking to us.”

The negative signage was enough to ruin the day of Macon County Clerk Pat Clarke.

“I’m ashamed of Macon County people today,” Clarke, a Democrat, said after trying unsuccessfully to get Stuart to put away his flag. “It’s crap. He’s the president of the United States, and I don’t care what party he is; you respect him.”

At 12:27 p.m., the presidential motorcade drove through at about 25 miles per hour. Obama, sporting sunglasses and a white shirt, was little more than a blur as he waved to the crowd from his reinforced black SUV with Secret Service agents glowering from the open rear window.

To some in the crowd, the glimpse was further evidence of the president’s “arrogance.” Detractors tried to tabulate the cost of the 12-minute speech to taxpayers in lost wages and security. Supporters, though, chanted “USA” and praised Obama’s energetic barnstorming tour.

In Macon, a town of 5,500 four miles west of the Poet plant, U.S. flags lined the main drag, and businesses posted signs welcoming Obama. The town boasts the unfortunate slogan “Home to Toastmaster” painted on its water tower — evidence of the scars it still bears from nearly a decade ago, when the appliance giant closed its plant and sent 500 jobs to China. Its distinction as a railroad and mining hub have long since passed.

But City Administrator Allan Muncy said there are signs of hope. Macon was the first city in the state to run fiber optics to all of its buildings and has succeeded in attracting some high-tech jobs. “We’re really a progressive smaller town,” he said.

This was in evidence at Onshore Technology Services just off Highway 63, where dozens of computer programmers sat at desks communicating with clients all over the country. Onshore is billed as rural America’s answer to companies that outsource IT work to India. Using a Community Development Block Grant, CEO Shane Mayes set up a “boot camp” in 2005 where unskilled workers can learn software development and other high-tech skills in three months. Today he employs 53 people in three offices, and MasterCard is among his clients.

During a tour of the facilities, Mayes asked every employee where he or she had worked previously. Answers included KFC, welding and janitorial work. Entry-level jobs at Onshore start at $20,000 a year and range to $60,000 and above.

“When people start working here, they just change,” he said. “They’re doing work that gives them dignity.”

Mayes, 37, said he was “heartbroken” when he heard that Obama was coming to town and not stopping by his company. He would have loved the opportunity to ask the president to beef up the underfunded Workforce Investment Act, which helps older workers continue their education. “Why, why, why is he not sitting in your chair right now?” Mayes asked a reporter. “We are the perfect implementation of what he talks about.”

At the McDonald’s restaurant in town, a group of longtime friends sat contemplating the meaning of the presidential visit. Some recalled that Harry Truman had once briefly halted his train in Macon to drop off local newspaper publisher Frank Briggs. Franklin Roosevelt chugged through by rail at 2 a.m. near the end of his last term. But no one could recall anything like this.

The retirees, who spanned the political spectrum, said they mostly rejected the partisan rhetoric now in vogue. In fact, the old-timers gave Obama high marks for a willingness to tackle national problems with gusto.

“There’s not too many times a president hits as many small communities as this president has,” said Bob Waller, 80, a retired equipment operator for the Macon Electric Cooperative. “Whether you agree with his policies or whether you don’t, at least he’s out there trying. He ain’t sitting on his haunches.”

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